North Gaston falls in 2nd round of 3A baseball at Foard

Published: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 10:50 PM.

The Wildcats scored four times in the sixth, with a fielding error driving in two runs, Andrew Ray’s groundout driving in another and A.J. Cook’s infield hit scoring the fourth run.

But North Gaston would leave the bases loaded and stranded Drew Green in the seventh after he reached on a leadoff infield single to finish with 11 overall runners left on base.

“Our guys battled and fought,” Martin said. “To go from 6-0 to 6-4 and have even more chances says a lot about our guys.”

Dickens was relieved after 5 2-3 innings in which he struck out four and yielded six walks, five hits and four runs (one earned) before Fulbright struck out four of the five batters he faced for the save.

Foard’s seven-hit offense was led by Fulbright’s two hits, Dickens’ home run and Hilton’s double.

Wallace and Green had two hits and leadoff batter Mason Smith drew four walks to lead North Gaston’s six-hit offense. Wallace (9-3) took the loss with a complete-game, six-inning performance in which he struck out seven and yielded seven hits, two walks and six runs (one earned).

The defeat ended the careers of four Wildcats’ seniors – Wallace, Ray, Garrett Lowery and Grey Goines. Wallace and Lowery were four-year starters, Ray was a three-year starter and Goines a two-year starter.

NEWTON – In state playoff baseball competition, the success or failure at hitting and pitching with two outs are magnified.

That was never more apparent than in Tuesday’s 6-4 Foard victory over North Gaston in the second round of the N.C. 3A playoffs.

Foard (13-13) thrived in the situation, while North Gaston struggled. And Foard’s success is why they’ll be hosting a third round playoff game against Patton (15-9) on Friday; Patton eliminated Crest 7-0 on Tuesday.

“Whoever executed best was going to win this game,” said Foard coach Channon Vogel, whose team had four two-out hits to account for all five runs in a critical fourth-inning Tigers’ rally.

Meanwhile, North Gaston managed only an infield hit in nine plate appearances with two outs.

Of course, as Wildcats coach Jesse Martin accurately pointed out, Foard wriggled out of trouble by fielding hard hit balls several times when North Gaston had chances to create more offense.

“It just wasn’t our game,” said Martin, whose team finishes its season 15-10. “There were multiple balls we hit hard but right at them – and with guys in scoring position.”

Specifically, long drives to the outfield were caught near the fence at the Foard field on back-to-back at-bats in the third inning and again on a sharp line drive to second base in the fourth inning.

Foard took the early lead on Taylor Dickens’ leadoff home run in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with their five-run fourth.

A one-out error got the rally started before Vogel felt the second out – a sacrifice bunt – gave the Tigers an opportunity they took full advantage of.

Justin Harwell’s bunt moved courtesy runner Austin Hector to second after catcher Chris Mays reached on the error. Then Austin Godfrey and Ryan Campbell followed with back-to-back RBI singles, Ben Hilton hit an RBI double, Dickens drew a walk and scored on Jordan Fulbright’s two-run double.

“The sac bunt was a key in that inning because we followed up with all those two-out hits,” Vogel said.

As it turned out, Foard would need almost all of those runs to hold off the rallying Wildcats.

Despite loaded the bases in the fifth and getting nothing when Foard starter and winner Dickens got out of the jam with a strikeout and two groundouts, North Gaston would rally again in the sixth and seventh innings.

The Wildcats scored four times in the sixth, with a fielding error driving in two runs, Andrew Ray’s groundout driving in another and A.J. Cook’s infield hit scoring the fourth run.

But North Gaston would leave the bases loaded and stranded Drew Green in the seventh after he reached on a leadoff infield single to finish with 11 overall runners left on base.

“Our guys battled and fought,” Martin said. “To go from 6-0 to 6-4 and have even more chances says a lot about our guys.”

Dickens was relieved after 5 2-3 innings in which he struck out four and yielded six walks, five hits and four runs (one earned) before Fulbright struck out four of the five batters he faced for the save.

Foard’s seven-hit offense was led by Fulbright’s two hits, Dickens’ home run and Hilton’s double.

Wallace and Green had two hits and leadoff batter Mason Smith drew four walks to lead North Gaston’s six-hit offense. Wallace (9-3) took the loss with a complete-game, six-inning performance in which he struck out seven and yielded seven hits, two walks and six runs (one earned).

The defeat ended the careers of four Wildcats’ seniors – Wallace, Ray, Garrett Lowery and Grey Goines. Wallace and Lowery were four-year starters, Ray was a three-year starter and Goines a two-year starter.

Ray is a Greensboro College baseball commitment, Lowery a Limestone commitment and Wallace is considering walking on at UNC-Wilmington.